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To compete with the current market trends, there is always a need to develop cost effective frame designs to meet the needs of the customer. During the development of new vehicles, the major focus is on weight reduction, so as to improve the load carrying capacity and fuel efficiency. Due to the introduction of new high strength materials, the static strength conditions can be met by the use of thinner frames, but the dynamic behavior of the frame deteriorates. The dynamic behaviors like ride and handling, comfort are affected by the stiffness of the vehicle frame. The stiffness of the frame is majorly defined by its vertical stiffness, lateral stiffness and torsional stiffness. The vertical stiffness of the frame plays major role in isolating road vibrations to frame mounted aggregates. The lateral stiffness plays a very important role in the handling of the vehicle and cornering ability of the vehicle. Torsional stiffness effects the roll and lateral load transfer distribution.

The cabin or cab is an enclosed space where the driver and co-driver are seated. Structural parameters such as modal and stiffness characteristics are of key importance for its durability study and driver’s comfort. The desired strength and stiffness value of the cabin have to be met at the development phase itself. In developing new cabin models numerical simulations are used for estimating vehicle performance to reduce the development cycle. But, the conventional method of modeling the cabin using 2-d elements and performing subsequent iteration steps to arrive at the desired stiffness and strength value will be cumbersome and time consuming. Thus, a methodology of FE modeling of the truck cabin using 1-D elements has been proposed in this paper which will reduce the analysis time of successive iterations. For this purpose an existing proven driver’s cabin is modeled using 1-D elements.

Advanced Non-linear topology optimization methods have been addressed as the most promising techniques for light weight and performance design of Powertrain structures. The theoretical achievements are obtained both mechanically and mathematically. Nowadays, the great challenge lies in solving more complicated engineering design problems with multidisciplinary objectives or complex structural systems. The purpose of this paper is to provide a forum to present new developments in structural Non-linear topology optimization. The advantage of the proposed method is that structural optimization on irregular design domains can be carried out easily. Furthermore, this method integrates the stress analysis and the boundary evolution within the framework of finite element methods. In this paper, mainly focused on the Commercial Vehicles Powertrain component i.e. Transmission Housing.

The need to develop products faster and to have designs which are first time right have put enormous pressure on the product development timelines, thus making computer aided optimization one of the most important tool in achieving these targets. In this paper, a design of experiments (DOE) study is used, to gain an insight as to, how changes to different parameters of front suspension and steering of a passenger bus affect its kinematic properties and thus to obtain an optimized design in terms of handling parameters such as bump steer, percent ackermann error and lock to lock rotation angle of steering wheel. The conventional hit and trial method is time consuming and monotonous and still is an approximate method, whereas in design of experiments (DOE), a model is repeatedly run through simulations in a single setup, for various combinations of parameter settings.